I've heard for a couple of sources now about our near future. No, not in a future telling sense. I mean in a headed to a depression sense. I've heard a couple times that we won't be able to deduct from our taxes our mortgage interest. Sure, it may be scare tactics, and it may not. I know one thing for sure. About a year and a half ago, I had a normal life. Things I believe now, I would have thought were conspiracy theory. Now, I don't believe EVERYTHING I look up on the Internet. I also don't believe everything I see on national news. I used to believe it if it was one the big three. Not anymore. I used to believe it if it came from the White House. Not anymore. Is that a sad place to be? You betcha.
How far has America sunk when the President of the United States puts out a false history lesson about the Statue of Liberty? Especially when he HAS to know it's not true? Oh, excuse me, what's the politically correct term? Disingenuous? I don't know...he lied. So far I still have freedom of speech. Did you know they have suspended the 1st Amendment in the Gulf of Mexico? If you go within, I think it's something like 65 feet of a worker or an oil covered bird or a boom you can be fined $40,000 and imprisoned? Excuse me? Why aren't the nature fanatics going ballistic? Why aren't the news teams plastering the TV with oil covered birds? Why aren't they demonizing BP by saying just how bad this is for the environment? Look at the pitiful birds and how bad this is for the fishermen and you killed the gulf...everything is dead! The news people can't get anywhere near it...and this is from CNN! You go try it, and see if you aren't fined and told to go pump sand. Let's see if anyone has the cahonies to risk a $40,000 fine and prison time to get some footage out or risk a fly over. I don't live near there, and I don't have that kind of money to throw around.
So, what am I gonna do? I'm gonna stock up on food for when the crap hits the fan. And for all of those who will ask, don't you think God will get you through this? Yes, He will. He gave me a brain to be reasonable. God wrote the Bible. Did you realize the pre-tribulation wasn't a theory until 1830? And it was started by a woman who had a Revelation about it. She was a Bible scholar. She just said that God revealed to her that He was going to take his people out of here before he sent Jesus back. Wow, I never knew that. Google it sometime.
But this blog wasn't intended to be a religious blog....I wanted to let you know what I'm doing in regards to stocking up. I'm Southern Baptist, but I heard that the Mormons are pretty knowledgeable on stocking up, so I researched a bit. They are. I had been just going and buying cans of stuff sort of willy Nelly. Not a good idea. If the crap hits the fan, you have a bunch of green beans and corn and what do you do with it?
Here's their idea. Go through your recipe books. Find some recipes that your family likes that you can make with just canned goods and noodles or rice...in other words all non-perishables that you can put away. Maybe with something you can do with canned meat in a pinch. Maybe something you could substitute game meat....if you could hunt. If it got really bad, you can hunt and then clean your own game but you would need a meat grinder for ground meat. But take those recipes and write out the amounts of each ingredient...don't forget the spices.
Also come up with some good bread recipes. You can always make bread in the oven instead of buying it. Or if you had a bread machine. Now this is assuming the power is still on, and consumables are just too expensive. If it gets really bad, and the power goes off, you may be cooking over an open flame or on a Coleman stove, I'm not sure how to make bread that way...I'll figure that one out when the time comes. I may be digging an oven in my back yard...lol. I have to have my bread.
But, the more meals you can come up with the better. Try to come up with at least 7, then you can have at least one a day for a week. Come up with some breakfast ideas, remembering what keeps. You can substitute applesauce for an egg in a pinch (I've done it in gluten free recipes), but you can also get dehydrated eggs - don't know what they taste like. Or just stock up on MRE's. We can't because they only make gluten free MRE's with an entree...not the full meal.
Then, after you've figured out what each meal takes you just multiply out for how every many meals you would need for the number of months you want to save up. That includes who much flour you need to make a loaf of bread, based on how many loaves of bread you think your family would eat. If you google the Mormons, they have a calculator for doing that but I had to change it for gluten free. They try to keep a year's food supply on hand at all times. I never knew that.
Also, as you get new stock, and you want to use it, rotate out of your building up stock. That way it doesn't get too old. Keep the oldest stuff in front, and put the newer in back. That way, if we're wrong, you don't end up with 10 or 20 year old green beans that are not usable.
And if you're going to store things in your garage, don't store directly on a concrete floor. Put things at least a few inches up off the floor. Some sort of pallet is fine. Those pallets they throw away are fine. My husband told me he wasn't about to buy shelving when he could be putting the money into food stuffs. We have the floor of our pantry stuffed and stacked. We are putting stuff on the floor of our closet. You can put stuff under your bed. Be creative. We have a stack of water cases next to our front door. We figured out that we need at least 3 bottles of water a day per person....multiply that out for a month. We would need 10 cases for a family of 4 for a month (our case has 35). If you have scrap wood, you can make storage units, if you're handy. Just remember the amount of weight it's holding.
Another thing my husband thought of is to remember the neighborhood you're in. He wanted to spread out when we bought our water, because he wasn't so sure he wanted our neighbors seeing us haul in all that water. Or seeing us stock up on food. Do you want your neighbors knowing you have a ton of food in your house? Spread it out when you buy all your stock food. I got a funny look at Sam's the other day when I bought 6 cases of water...I just laughed and said, "My husband works outside all day, he goes through some water." They laughed with me then. Before that it was, do you know something I don't? I've also been saving milk jugs and collecting rain water....for flushing toilets and watering my garden. I've got one spot on my roof that just gushes perfectly for filling a jug in a downpour.
So, in a nutshell, stock up. Even if we're all wrong, you'll be prepared in case you lose your job for a few months. What harm is there in that? Have you seen the unemployment rates lately? Can you imagine trying to feed your family with no income? If you had saved back meals for, say 3 months even, you would have 3 months to look for a job without having to worry about food, only your bills. That would be one thing off your mind. And if we're right......? Get bullets, too.
Lori Ann Smith
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